President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday focused his re-election bid on Greater Taichung, holding a large-scale rally and a meeting with netizens, as the election campaigns of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heated up.
Ma and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), attended the campaign rally organized by sports groups in the morning to consolidate support. Ma later met with his Facebook supporters and discussed national policies before heading to another campaign activity held by the party’s youth group.
Ma’s campaign schedule in Greater Taichung coincided with the campaign activities of his DPP counterpart, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who also visited the municipality yesterday for the DPP’s congress and large-scale rally to build up momentum for the combined legislative and presidential elections on Jan. 14.
The overlapping campaign schedule of the two candidates sparked concerns from Tsai’s camp, especially after Tsai’s trip to the US earlier this month was mirrored by Ma’s top aide, his campaign executive director King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), who continuously criticized Tsai’s campaign platform and policies during his US trip.
Ma’s campaign yesterday dismissed concerns from Tsai and the DPP about Ma campaigning in the same location as Tsai, and urged the DPP presidential nominee to focus her attention on presenting a platform.
“President Ma’s meeting with Facebook fans in Taichung was arranged a month ago and we have never accused Tsai and the DPP of following our campaign schedule. Rather than questioning us, Chairperson Tsai should focus her efforts on offering solid policies,” said Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), vice executive director of Ma’s campaign team.
At the campaign rallies, Ma promoted the government’s cross-strait policies and promised to lead the nation to a more prosperous future if re-elected.
“The majority of Taiwanese wish to maintain the ‘status quo’ across the Taiwan Strait and this represents the consensus in Taiwan. The government has been promoting peaceful cross-strait relations under such a consensus and we will continue to do so for the next four years,” Ma said at a meeting with the KMT’s youth members.
He also promised to further improve the lives of the people by addressing everyday issues from the price of cooking wine to fraud cases.
“The government should understand the pain of the people and work hard to solve problems ... Please give us four more years and let us continue with the reforms that will make Taiwan better,” he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS